Pagan Christmas or Simply Christmas? By Dr. Josimar Salum

Pagan Christmas or Simply Christmas? By Dr. Josimar Salum

   What if I decide not to celebrate Christmas? 

   Christmas’s day is a pagan tradition of Christianity. But in my case it is a time to talk about the birth of Jesus and the reason God became flesh while the world celebrate it as a motive to sell gifts and make merchandise. 

   Even though it is not December 25th that Jesus was born, it is time to bring the family together for fellowship and see many that had been far away during the year.

   It is an occasion that part of the world talk about Jesus birth without the message of the Gospel while I take advantage of it to share the true message. 

   What harm or sin is there in admiring at Christmas time the creativity of the streets decorated with white, red and blue lights; and in the midst of the heat of Brazilian Decembers, imagine the snow looking at the white cotton on the trees and in the ground or giving and receiving gifts without worshiping some god?

   In fact, parents, disciples of Jesus, who give gifts to their children have nothing to do with this Nordic practice, nor do they know what it means!

   For millions and millions of children that wake up in the morning on December 25th, there is not the slightest mention or even the slightest possibility of anyone asking what this special date is about the name Jesus.

   Because half of the world doesn't know the paganisms of Christmas, it's true, a lot of paganism; also it does not know the joy of gifts that are found on the way, which shared today have nothing to do with the practice of pagans hundreds of years ago. They also cannot hear the story of the Savior who came into the world, who was born in Bethlehem, whatever day it was. 

   They do not hear about the God who became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw his Glory as the Glory of the Only Begotten of the Father.

   I decided, only in my religious imagination, that I would never celebrate Yeshua's Christmas with my family and millions and millions of Christians, yes, the birth of Jesus.

   Only in a slight imagination would I stop singing His beautiful hymns, of the Savior who came into the world.

   Only in the imagination and very fleeting, would I miss the opportunity to proclaim the Message of the Cross and the meaning of His Name, the Savior from the sins of his people, in the midst of all this avaricious commercialization and all the pagan symbols that were associated with the Birth of my Savior.

   Yes, I decided, just as a slight vapor in my head, to eliminate once and for all the only opportunity to proclaim and redeem the true message of the Gospel of the Kingdom that still remains in the midst of culture.

   Whoever was born in Bethlehem  was not simply a boy. Whoever was born in Bethlehem was the King of all the Earth.

   “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 

   An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 

   But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 

   Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 

   Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” 

   When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”” Luke‬ ‭2‬:‭8‬-‭11‬, ‭13‬-‭15‬ ‭

   #ASONE